Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch Has Always Hated Antitrust; But Now He Wants It Used Against Internet Companies Who Out Innovated Him

from the the-cronyiest-of-capitalists dept

It’s no secret that Rupert Murdoch is an extreme hypocrite. He spent decades railing against any kind of regulatory powers to hold back companies, but as soon as his own attempts to build an internet empire flopped dramatically, he’s come around to being a major booster of regulatory crackdowns. Just only against the companies who out-innovated him. For years now he’s been demanding that governments force the internet companies to pay him money — a move that has been successful in his home country of Australia.

The latest is that Murdoch, who built his business empire by buying up competitors and doing everything possible to avoid antitrust authorities, is now a major force behind supporting antitrust efforts — so long as they’re aimed at the internet companies. When the Democrats released their 5 antitrust proposals last week, each one (perhaps somewhat surprisingly) had a Republican co-sponsor. That appears to have been thanks to Murdoch:

Fox Corp. and News Corp. lobbyists have been urging GOP members to support the bills this week, according to people familiar with the efforts, with two sources saying there could be as many as 3 to 4 GOP co-sponsors on each bill. Talks are ongoing….

Say what you want about Rupert Murdoch, but the idea that he’s a free marketer and against regulations is nonsense. That was only true when the regulations involved his companies. Now that he’s failed to innovate, he’s spent the last decade demanding that governments punish the companies who actually competed better than he did. He’s the cronyist of the crony capitalists.

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Comments on “Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch Has Always Hated Antitrust; But Now He Wants It Used Against Internet Companies Who Out Innovated Him”

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18 Comments
This comment has been deemed insightful by the community.
rangda (profile) says:

clearly you are confused

Murdoch was never against anti-trust regulation. He was (and is) against anything that prevents him from having "all the monies". If antitrust regulation stops him from having giant bags of money then he is against that. If competitors stop him from having giant bags of money then he is against his competitors.

This is not hard to understand.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re: clearly you are confused

At one end of the extreme, there are a few ultra-rich people like Murdock. At the other end of the extreme, there are many poor people without the ability to even fight people like Murdock. Catering to only the rich people is wrong, catering to only the poor people is wrong. Where is the middle?

This comment has been deemed insightful by the community.
Bloof (profile) says:

Rupert Murdoch is also against socialism, while pushing for laws in Australia so more successful companies are forced by the government to give his media empire free money.

Rupert Murdoch is against socialised medicine, yet bolted to the UK the moment the Covid Vaccine was made available to his agegroup, shot to the head of the line thanks to his political connections, getting the vaccine before the Queen.

Rupert Murdoch is happy to push antivax BS, yet… See above.

Rupert Murdoch has built his fortune on decrying others as sex offenders and criminals while defending criminals and sex offenders if they make him money or agree with him politically and are still of use.

Rupert Murdoch is a hypocrite and a cancer on western civilisation. Decades after his death, we will still be working out the true extent of the damage his malignant influence has done to the world.

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